Stupidly, I drive home, even though my head is fuzzy. Nicola smells the alcohol the second I walk in. I can tell by the way she wrinkles her nose.
‘Joel and I had fish fingers and chips today,’ she chirps.
‘Great,’ I say.
‘How’s Joanna’s conference going in France?’ she asks.
France?Damn it, I forgot I told her a different story.
‘Oh, right. Yeah, it’s going fine. Mrs Neal said she should be home in a few days. That’ll be great, won’t it, dude?’ I say, turning to Joel.
Nicola looks at me, but says nothing. I’m relieved when Donald calls. Nicola takes that as her cue. ‘I’ll be off then,’ she says.
I wait until the front door closes, then return to the call.
‘It’s getting hard, Donald. I keep forgetting what I’ve told people. I get muddled. I told Nicola something different because I couldn’t say Joanna was sick. I’m going to mess this up.’
I’m talking too fast. The shots are still fogging my brain.
‘Slow down, Daniel. Try to stay calm.’
Easy for him to say. He’s not the one with everything on the line. All he has to do is magically produce a million.
The intercom buzzes. Nicola must’ve forgotten something.
‘It’s me,’ says Gil.
Shit.She’ll smell the alcohol on me.
I buzz her in.
‘Gil’s here. I’d better go,’ I tell Donald.
‘Stay in touch, Daniel.’
I have barely opened the door before Gil bursts in, out of breath.
‘I think I know where the kidnapping happened,’ she says.
***
I check on Joel before returning to Gil, who is even more agitated by now.
‘I’ve walked home with her a few times. I know the route she usually takes from the hospital.’ Her face is flushed withexcitement, her eyes wide. ‘I found these, crumpled by the side of the road near the industrial estate.’
She pulls a comic and a chocolate bar from her bag.
‘She said she was stopping to get these. It must be where they took her.’ She pauses and squints at me. ‘Have you been drinking?’
‘Just a few. I didn’t drive. I…’
She shakes her head, disappointed. ‘Anyway,’ she continues, ignoring my excuse. ‘There could be DNA on them. Someone might have seen something. We need to call the police. Now.’
I struggle to keep my temper. She’s driving me mad. I’ve told her over and over: no police. Why won’t she listen? One more payment, and it’s over. We’ll have Jo home.
‘Gil, how many times do we have to go through this? No police.’
She stares at me. ‘This is madness, Daniel.’
